Americans love me in the Buffy. British actor Tony Head bares all about his rise to US success, January 30, 2000, by Tim Oglethorpe.

[Inset quote:] My Favourite Programme...is Buffy the Vampire Slayer, of course! We have parties in LA where we all watch it."

Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Friday, Sky One, 8pm. He may be in one of America's biggest TV shows, but British actor Tony Head reckons he's skint - at least for three months of the year!

The former Nescafe coffee ad star is now a big hit in the US thanks to his role as librarian Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But he says, "By the end of the holiday between series, moneywise I'm nearly down to zero.

"I spend it flying between America and Britain. Buffy takes eight and a half months to film in Los Angeles, and I fly home several times to see my partner and our daughters."

Tony, 44, is forever phoning partner Sarah and their kids Emily, 10, and Daisy, eight. "The bill is enormous. But I miss them so much," he admits.

Tony, who also rents a flat in LA's Santa Monica, reveals: "Buffy is huge. I can't walk down a street in America without being recognised. It's definitely opened doors for me. People are listening seriously to me about future projects I'd like to get off the ground, such as an animated musical.

"But I can only do this because Sarah agrees to become a single mum for eight and a half months of the year. She is an extraordinary woman. I'm incredibly grateful to her."

In fact, he was willing to give up his most successful role to date--until Sarah stepped in. "Sarah said I shouldn't be so stupid. And the girls have told me I'd be foolish to jack in such a cool programme," he smiles.

Tony has toyed with the idea of moving his family to Los Angeles, but doesn't want to give up their home in a beautiful village near Bath."I want my kids to be brought up in Britain. Besides, Buffy's only likely to last another couple of years, so what's the point?" he laughs.

But he recognizes that it might never have happened had it not been for those coffee ads with actress Sharon Maughan. He says, "A different set of commercials, still featuring Sharon and I, were a hit in America, so I got myself an American agent and one of the jobs I auditioned for was Buffy.

Tony receives hundreds of fan letters every week, some of which are a little strange."I was very concerned for one boy," he says. "But I've had letters from librarians, thanking me for making their profession trendy and one sci-fi mag even voted me the third sexiest man on TV!"

And American TV bosses also clearly think Tony looks good in the altogether. "I recently made a guest appearance in a US sitcom called Two Guys, A Girl And A Pizza Place, as a man who loves painting himself in the nude," he laughs. I didn't feel too self-conscious until people started saying 'You're so brave', as though I looked that bad without my clothes on!"